Former Eagles stars Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson, once a dynamic touchdown duo in midnight green, are set to reunite at Lincoln Financial Field, but now on opposite sidelines. Jackson’s Delaware State Hornets are 5-3 and leading the MEAC, while Vick’s struggling Norfolk State Spartans sit at 1-7 amid a four-game skid that’s already cost several defensive coaches their jobs. The betting market isn’t even pretending this one will be close. Delaware State opened as 20.5-point favorites, and some books have it at 17.5, which still amounts to an expected blowout. Michael Vick’s already prepping his post-game talking points, and an unforeseen forecast is giving him the perfect excuse.​

When asked about his strategy for the matchup, Vick didn’t discuss adjustments or matchups or any of the typical coach-speak. Instead, he went straight to the weather report. “It’s going to rain. That’s going to [factor] into the game plan. It might hurt ours a bit,” Vick said. Now, to be fair, rain does affect how you call a game. It makes passing harder, ball security becomes critical, and offensive execution gets sloppier across the board. But it’s going to rain on both teams. Delaware State has to play in the same conditions on the same slippery field. And they’re still expected to win by three touchdowns. 

Vick laying the groundwork for the weather excuse before the game even kicks off tells you pretty much everything you need to know about his confidence level heading into this one. Jackson, meanwhile, took the high road when asked about the matchup. “I just wanna see a great game for both sides, regardless of the score. We’re gonna go out there, compete and have fun,” Jackson said. That’s the approach of a coach whose team is favored and doesn’t need to start making excuses 24 hours before kickoff.​

The records tell the story of two dramatically different first seasons as HBCU head coaches. Jackson inherited a Delaware State program that had won exactly two games over the previous two seasons, which is about as bad as it gets in college football. He’s already tripled that win total through eight games, sitting tied atop the MEAC standings with a 1-0 conference record after beating NC Central 35-26 last week.

Michael Vick’s Norfolk State, on the other hand, is sitting at the bottom of the MEAC with that ugly 1-7 mark. And the analytics suggest this might get worse before it gets better. Dimers’ predictive model ran 10,000 simulations of Thursday’s game and gave Norfolk State just an 11 percent chance to win, with a projected final score of 39-19 in Delaware State’s favor.​

This whole matchup is part of the “celebrity coach experiment” that’s taken over HBCU football in the post-Deion Sanders era. Jackson and Michael Vick were both hired this offseason specifically because of their name recognition and NFL pedigree. The idea being that star power would translate to recruiting wins, media attention, and eventually on-field success. Jackson’s proving that the model can work if you’re willing to put in the time and actually learn the job.

Tale of two debuts

The contrast between these two first-year coaching campaigns couldn’t be more stark. Jackson’s walking into Delaware State and completely flipping the script. They’ve rattled off some impressive wins, including that 70-23 demolition of Southern Connecticut State. And last week’s 35-26 victory over NC Central got them to 1-0 in conference play. 

Vick’s Norfolk State, meanwhile, is limping through the season at 1-7 with a six-game losing streak that includes some ugly losses. He got blown out 60-10 at Rutgers and then dropping back-to-back games to Wofford and South Carolina State by a combined 82-34. The Spartans started with some promise at 1-1 after that overtime thriller against Virginia State, but then the wheels came off completely.​

What’s particularly telling is how each coach has handled the adversity. Jackson kept his team focused and competitive even through the rough patches, bouncing back from those losses to Sacred Heart and Monmouth with dominant performances. Vick, on the other hand, has already had to make major changes mid-season, firing several defensive coaches in an attempt to stop the bleeding. After Norfolk State’s loss to Hampton earlier this month, Vick was pretty candid about his frustrations with the sideline role.

“I’m trying to focus on how I can be better as a head coach,” Vick said. “I feel like I do a good job of getting us ready to play. But you know, when the ball is snapped, I’m not out there. That’s what makes it so tough being on the sidelines. I try to remove myself from that and help them, but I can’t help them [on the field]. All I can do is put them in position.” That quote captures the struggle of a guy who spent his entire playing career being able to control outcomes with his legs and arm, and now he’s stuck watching helplessly as his team makes mistakes he can’t fix in real-time.​